Means for storing and dispensing rod-shaped articles



March 29, 1960 M. POLLMANN MEANS FOR STORING AND DISPENSING ROD-SHAPED ARTICLES Filed Sept. 13, 1957 3 Sheet s-Sheet 1 March 29, 1960 M. POLLMANN 2,930,507

MEANS FOR s'roamc AND DISPENSING ROD-SHAPED ARTICLES Filed Sept. 15. 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 29, 1960 M. POLLMANN 2,930,507

MEANS FOR STORING AND DISPENSING ROD-SHAPED ARTICLES Filed Sept. 13, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fig. 3

INVENTOR.

MAX POLLMA/V V TI'ORNEYS MEANS FGR STORING AND DISPENSING ROD-SHAPED ARTICLES Max Pollmann, Hamburg-Bergedorf, Germany, assignor to Kurt Korber & Co., K.-G., Hamburg-Bergedorf, Germany Application September 13, 1957, Serial No. 683,748

(Ilaims priority, application Germany September 15, 1956 2 Claims. (Cl. 221-183) The invention relates to means for storing and dispensing rod-shaped articles, such as cigarettes, filter plugs, and the like. More particularly the invention relates to novel and improved means of the type indicated adapted to be incorporated as parts of machines for making recessed mouthpieces for filter cigarettes and said novel and improved means will be described below with particular reference to its use in such machines, the rod-shaped articles for the sake of convenience being referred to as filters, or filter plugs.

Means for bulk storing and dispensing of rod-shaped articles have been known heretofore which operate fairly well when the articles consist of cigarettes, for example, while they have been found to possess serious disadvantages and to cause troublesome and costly difliculties when used for certain other articles, such as mouthpieces and filter plugs for cigarettes. One of said difiiculties, particularly in the orderly feeding of filters from storage means of the kind indicated, consists in the formation of what is known as bridges in the mass of articles in the storage means, said bridges spanning the dispense or feed openings and thereby disrupting the orderly and continuous discharge therethrough. The particularly pronounced tendency towards such formation of bridges with filters has been found to be due to the fact that the filters become very strongly electrostatically charged by movement and friction in the storage means.

In certain known means for the purpose indicated use has been made of variously arranged means for guiding and slow stirring of the filters on their way through the storage means towards the discharge opening. Such guiding and stirring means may include a double-sided rooflike structure substantially shaped as an inverted V and extending horizontally through the storage means. Below said roof-like structure slowly rotating means may be provided to further facilitate the descent of the filters towards the discharge opening. However, the result has not been satisfactory and the difiiculties and disturbances have continued.

A primary object of the present invention is to provide novel and improved means of the character indicated in which said difficulties, disadvantages and operational disturbances are eliminated.

Another object of the invention is to provide novel and improved means of the type indicated in which beveen said roof-like structure and the rotary means therebelow upwardly and downwardly movable means are inserted the outer surfaces of which are grooved or otherwise uneven and disposed substantially in the same plane as the side surfaces of said roof-like structure.

A further object of the invention is to provide novel and improved means of the character indicated in which said upwardly and downwardly movable means comprise tooth racks adaptedto be moved in a manner similar to a connecting rod on a crankshaft with the upward movement combined with a slight outwardmovement so as to force adjacent filters upwardly.

Other objects and advantages, of the invention will be 2,930,507 a e M e 9 19.5

apparent from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic elevational view of a machine in which my invention is incorporated,

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view partly in elevation of the storage and dispensing device forming part of said machine, and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the storage and dispensing device.

In Fig. 1 an electric motor 1 is drivingly connected by means of a belt 2 with a shaft 3 that is rotatably mounted in a substantially vertical supporting frame 4. The motor I. is suitably supported on the same frame 4 whichsubstantially may consist of a suitably supported vertical steel plate carrying substantially the entire drive mechanism described herein on its rear side. On the shaft'3 a gear wheel 5 is secured in meshing engagement with a gear wheel 6 secured to a shaft 7 rotatably mounted in the frame 4 and carrying secured thereto another gear wheel 8 which in turn is in meshing engagement with a further gear wheel 9 secured to a shaft 10 also mounted the frame 4. The gear wheel ii is in meshing engagement with a gear wheel 11 securedto a shaft '12 mounted in the frame 4, and the gear wheel 11 is in turn in meshing engagement with a gear wheel 13 secured to a shaft 14 mounted in the frame 4. A conveyor 15 is drivingly connected with the gear wheel 13 through the intermediary of meshing gear wheels 16, 17.

Two intermeshing gear wheels 18, 19 are adapted'to be driven by the gear wheel 5 on the shaft 3 through the intermediary of a gear wheel 20 mounted on a shaft 21 and meshing with gear wheels 5 and 18. The gear wheel 9 on the shaft 10 is in meshing engagement with a gear wheel 22 on a shaft 23 which also has secured thereto a pulley 24 drivingly connected with a second pulley 25 by means of a belt 26. The pulley 25 is secured toa shaft 27 which also has secured thereto a gear wheel 28 in meshing engagement with a gear wheel 29 secured to a shaft 39 which in turn has secured thereto one of the pulleys 31 of a pair of pulleys 31, 32 around which a belt 33 is mounted. A stirring device A in a container, or hopper, B mounted on the front of the frame 4 is drivingly connected with the gear wheel 29 through theintermediafy of suitable means.

The gear wheel a is also drivingly connected witha cutting device C on the front of the frame 4 through the intermediary of gear wheels 35, 36, 37 and a shaft 38 to which the gear wheels 36 and 37 are secured.' Finally, the gear wheel 11 is in meshing engagement with a gear wheel 39 secured to a shaft 40 that like all the shafts referred to above is mounted in the frame-4. i

The pulleys 31, 32 together with the belt 33 are mounted on the front of the frame 4 and the belt 33 is of a width corresponding to the total length of a predetermined number of filter plugs. Along the upper reach of the belt 33 a guide plate 41 is secured in such a manner as to form, together with said upper reach of belt 33, a chute 42 extending substantially from a bottom opening 43 in the container 13 to the periphery ofa transfer drum 44 secured to the shaft 19 on the front. side. of the frame 4. Said transfer drum 44 has in its periphery a plurality of transverse grooves 45 each adapted to receive and hold the abovementioned predetermined number of filter plugs although in contrast to the belt 33 with a space between the individual filter plugs as will presently be explained. Accordingly, the width of said transfer drum 44 is somewhat greater than the width of the belt 33.

A second transfer drum 46 of the samewidthas the drum 44 is secured to the shaft 12 onthe front of, the frame 4 with its periphery in close proximityto the peph y of e m 5 a $99 14. se sis;

46 has grooves 47 similar to the grooves 45 and is disposed with its periphery in close proximity to those of a suction drum 48 on the shaft 40 and a third transfer drum 49 secured to the shaft 14. A fourth transfer drum 50 is mounted between the drum 49 and the conveyor 15, as shown, and the drums 49, 50 have transverse grooves 51, 52, respectively, similar to the grooves 45, 47. The drums 46, 48, 49, 50 and the conveyor band 15 are substantially of the same Width as the drum 44. The shaft 23 carries on its end portion protruding to the front of the frame 4 a plurality of circular knives 53 extending to or slightly below the bottom of the grooves 45 in the drum 44. On the protruding end portions of the shafts carrying the gear wheels 18, 19 a folding device indicated generally by D is mounted for a purpose to be explained below. A similar folding device E is mounted at a distance above the device D and driven by the gear wheel 20 through the intermediary of gear wheels 54, 55. A shield 56 surrounds the top portion of the drum 49, as shown.

Briefly, in operation the container B holds a supply of filter plug rods each corresponding in length to a predetermined number of individual filter plugs for filter cigarettes. With the aid of the stirring means A said rods are fed successively to the chute 42 from which they are deposited in the grooves 45 of the transfer drum 44. The circular knives 53 cut the rods into individual filter plugs and wedge-shaped means (not shown) adjacent said knives separate the filter plugs so as to space them from each other in the grooves 45.

The aligned rows of filter plugs are then successively transferred-in a manner well known in the artto the grooves 47 in the drum 46 and moved past the suction drum 48. A paper strip 57 is held by suction on the drum 48 and cut in suitable places by the cutting means C so as to form cover sheets for the filter plugs. The paper strip 57 has been previously glued on the side not in contact with the drum 48 by means not shown and the severed pieces are moved on the suction drum 48 into adhering contact each with a row of aligned filter plugs in the grooves 47. With the adhering paper pieces at the bottom filter plugs are thereafter transferred to the grooves 51 in the drum 49 so that the free ends of the cover pieces protrude from both sides of said grooves 51 as indicated at 58. The folding device D then folds one of the protruding end portions 58 around the filter plugs in the grooves 51 and the folding device E performs the same function with the other protruding end portion 58. In a modified embodiment the folding device B may be dispensed with and the second protruding cover 58 may then be folded simply by engagement with the end of the shield 56. The wrapped filter plugs are then transferred to the conveyor 15 by the intermediary of the drum S0.

The present invention is specifically concerned with improvements in the storage and dispensing device A, B and in the embodiment shown the container B comprises a rear wall 60 and a front wall (not shown) parallel with said rear wall 60. The side walls merge into bottom plates 63, 64 which slope inwardly and downwardly towards the outlet opening located above the pulley 31. The width of the container is substantially the same as the width of the pulley 31 and belt 33 and the bottom plates 63, 64 are adjustably supported on the rear wall 60 by means of brackets 65, 66 secured to the underside of said bottom plates by any suitable means, such as welding, and to the rear wall 60 by threaded means 67,

68, respectively, extending through elongated slots in i chute 42. Said bottom plate 64 is provided with a plurality of longitudinal slots 71 extending from the vicinity of the lower end of the plate upwardly. A substantially L-shaped spacer member 72 has fingers 73 which are disposed in the slots 71, as shown, and said spacer member 72 is pivotally mounted at its opposite end on a pin 74- secured to the rear wall 60. A bracket 75 is secured to the spacer member 72 and provided with an elongated slot 76 for adjustable mounting on the threaded means 68. Accordingly, the extent to which the fingers 73 project through the slots 71 may be adjusted by pivoting the spacer member 72 on the pin 74 and locking it in adjusted position by the threaded means 68.

At some distance above the bottom plates 63, 64 two toothed wheels 88, 81 are mounted on horizontal shafts 82, 85, respectively, which extend through the toothed wheels in eccentric positions, as shown, and are rotatably mounted in the rear wall 60. Each of the wheels 80, 81 has a circumferential groove at its middle and the bottom of said groove 84, 85, respectively, is concentric with the tooth circle.

A tooth rack 86 is provided on its side opposite the teeth with a ridge-shaped extension 87, the lower end portion 87a of which is curved to fit into the groove 84 and rest on the bottom thereof. A second tooth rack 88 with extension 89 having a similarly curved lower end portion 89a is similarly arranged in the groove 85. The upper end portions of the tooth racks 86, 88 have longitudinal ridges 90, 91, respectively, on their underside and said ridges are slidably disposed in a circumferential groove 92 in a wheel 93 rotatably supported on a shaft 94 secured to the rear wall 60. Above the wheel 93 a roof-like member 95 substantially of inverted V-shape is secured to the rear wall 60 by suitable means, such as welding, and extends downwardly on the outside of the tooth racks 86, 88, as shown. The teeth on the tooth racks 86, 88 have their edges directed slightly upwardly, as shown, and this is true also of the portions of the toothed wheels 80, 81 extending downwardly at the lower ends of the racks. The toothed wheels 80, 81 need have teeth on a portion of the circumference only, as will be apparent from the description of their function below. A tension spring 96 attached to the extensions 87, 89 holds the tooth racks 86, 88 against the wheels 80, 81, 93.

The drive connections for the toothed Wheels 80, 81 are indicated in broken lines and preferably disposed on the rear side of the frame 4. A gear wheel 97 is in meshing engagement with the gear wheel 29 and an eccentric 98 is secured to the shaft 59 of said gear wheel 97. On the eccentric 98 a connecting rod 99 is mounted, the opposite end of which is in rotary engagement with a crank pin 10!) on a gear wheel 101 mounted on a shaft 102 and having meshing engagement with gear Wheels 103, 104 secured to the shafts 82 and 83, respectively.

Accordingly, when the gear wheel 29 rotates continuously as indicated by the arrow 105, the gear wheels 101, 103, 104 will be rocked back and forth causing the toothed wheels 80, 81 to perform a similar rocking motion which will alternately move the racks 86, 88 upwardly-outwardly and inwardly-downwardly and thereby, together with the toothed wheels 80, 81 causing gentle stirring of the rod-shaped articles in the container to facilitate their movement to the chute 42. The spacer member 72 may be adjusted to regulate the free space between the same and the toothed wheel 81.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, many modifications thereof may be made by a person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is intended to protect by Letters Patent all forms of the invention falling within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. Means for storing and dispensing rod-shaped articles, comprising a storage container, a bottom wall in said container sloping towards an outlet opening therein, a roof-like structure substantially of the cross-sectional shape of an inverted V extending substantially horizontally across said container at a distance above said outlet opening, rotary eccentric means disposed between said roof-like structure and outlet opening and mounted on axes substantially parallel with the ridge of said roof-like structure, roller means mounted between said roof-like structure and said rotary eccentric means for rotation on an axis parallel With those of said rotary eccentric means, circumferential grooves in said roller means, tooth racks extending substantially in alignment With the sloping surfaces of said roof-like structure between said eccentric means and said roller means, spring means interconnecting said tooth racks on opposite sides of said roller means to urge said tooth racks into engagement with said 6 grooves and eccentric means, and means for driving said rotary eccentric means.

2. Means as set forth in claim 1, in which said rotary eccentric means have toothed circumferential surfaces except on the peripheral portion thereof in engagement with the tooth racks.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,471,288 Schulz May 24, 1949 2,736,476 Jackson et a1. Feb. 28, 1956 2,809,768 Pollmann et a1 Oct. 15, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 385,852 Great Britain Ian. 5, 1933 

